Evidence-Based Policymaking and Public Health Practice

This chapter focuses on the processes, challenges, and contexts of developing, communicating, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based public health policy. There is a wide range of resources available to the public health workforce to identify evidence-based policy interventions and monitor policies enacted at the federal, state, and local levels. This information must be communicated effectively to policymakers and their staff. The political process makes the strict practice of enacting only evidence-based policies unrealistic, but public health can work to make policies as evidence-informed as possible and advocate for strong evaluation plans to be included with innovative approaches that are yet to be fully assessed. This chapter highlights the importance of clear and concise communication of the messaging of evidence to back up emerging public health policies, as well as the specific challenges of implementing and monitoring evidence-based policies.